352 Bulletin 147. 



In figure 180, the vegetative shoot A is shoving the httle flower bud 

 aside, sapping its vitality, and will soon straighten out the axis of 

 growth so that one would never know the difference. The flower 

 bud remains rudimentary or dormant. The >vhole cluster of buds 

 shown in figure 181 is terminal because it ends the vegetative phase 

 of the plant's history, and it is only the particular bud in the cluster 

 that is left to flower, which is what the chrysanthemum specialists call 

 the terminal bud. Finally the beginner is easily led to mistake the 

 whole problem by such writing as this : 



*' For garden purposes, the term ' crown ' bud does very well, for 

 it is the center or crown of a group of buds* at the end of the growth; 

 indeed, the term can only be fully appreciated by those who have a 

 practical knowledge of ' taking ' the buds. There is the larger bud in 

 the form of a crown in the center, and standing above all the others. 

 [The true terminal bud of the botanist.] f The question to be deter- 

 mined at the time is, whether the center bud shall be left or taken out; 

 in some instances it is better to leave it and remove the side buds with 

 the finger nail; in the case of another variety, the center bud is 

 removed, and one of the side buds is trained up to take its place, and 

 this bud, to all intents, becomes the terminal bud, with a number of 

 lateral buds clustering around it; but except that the two terms are in 

 general use, there is no reason why ' terminal ' should not apply to 

 each." I 



How many beginners reading the above and seeing no illustration 

 would infer that the whole problem was merely to choose between the 

 center and one of the side buds in a given cluster of flower buds ? 

 Nearly all, I think.§ 



* Does not the reader here iiaturall}- think of a cluster of flower buds as 

 in figure 181 ? 



\ This seems to be the comment of the editor of Gardeners' Chronicle. 



|.J. Douglas in Gardeners' Chronicle, November, 1893, p. 620. 



§1 cannot imagine that the veteran cultivator, Mr. Douglas, has missed 

 the whole point. His subsequent writings make it seem impossible. And 

 it would be very odd if Mr. Molyneux, who is the chief writer on this subject, 

 and who was engaged with Mr. Douglas in a controversy at the time, should 

 have overlooked so complete an error, ]t is misleading onl}-, and the trouble 

 comes from using " biids " when the writer should discriminate between a 

 flower bud (the crown) and its accompanying vegetative shoots. These 

 young growths ought not to be called buds, but shoots. 



